For Himself אֲשֶׁר־ל֑וֹ

We are in chapter sixteen of Leviticus with our word for today which is a phrase. אֲשֶׁר־ל֑וֹ for himself, which he, that he had. It is used 41 times in the Old Testament, 3 times in our chapter. We find our phrase used in the sense of what one has. Genesis 25:5 Abraham gave all אֲשֶׁר־ל֖וֹ he had to Isaac. Yesterday we looked at the two goats that were used in the sin offering and how they are a beautiful picture of what Christ has accomplished for us on the cross. One was put to death for sin and the other one was set free. What is interesting with our chapter today is that before the priest can perform this sin offering he first has to take care of something. Leviticus 16:6, 11-14 Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering אֲשֶׁר־ל֑וֹ for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house … Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering אֲשֶׁר־ל֔וֹ for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering אֲשֶׁר־לֽוֹ for himself. And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil and put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die. And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times. The very next verse the first phrase says then he shall kill the goat for the sin offering. Wow that is a lot he has to do just to get to the place where he can offer the sin offering for the people. Did you also notice the specific reference to the incense that was to be used on the fire to create a cloud to cover the mercy seat so that he would not die. This is in the context of preventing what happened to Aarons sons who approached God on their own terms instead of respecting God and following his directions. So we have a sinful priest with a sinful family that has to offer up the sacrifice and all the blood just to be able to offer the sacrifice for the people. When we think about all of this it makes us so grateful for Jesus and all he has done for us. I like how the Holy Spirit connects all of this in the book of Hebrews. I’ll close with this great passage. Hebrews 9:11-14, But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come … he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God … For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.